simple + green

Following up on my Amazing Race electric vehicle giveaway post from earlier this month. Is Subaru the maker of the electric car that will be given away to 2 lucky Amazing Race contestants (Ron and Christina)?

Subaru announced earlier this month that they are bringing an electric car to market in 2009. Although there has been plenty of buzz about other major auto manufacturers planning for similar announcements for the end of this decade, Subaru seems to be the first to do so.

Subaru, best known for their quirky all wheel drive vehicles will be selling a pure electric vehicle microcar by 2009 called the R1e, a vehicle that it has developed with the Tokyo Electric Power Company.

Electric vehicles in general are pigeonholed as low-performance cars. What about the R1e? Here is what we know:

* The battery pack affords the car a modest range of 50 miles
* The car can be recharged to 80-percent capacity in just eight minutes.
* A full charge takes about six hours.
* Despite the low range, Subaru says that the car has a lifespan of 120,000 miles or ten years.

What’s the expected price for this EV?
Not cheap. Subaru predicts that the EV market will have progressed sufficiently to allow the R1e to sell for the equivalent of $17,500 within about four years. A decade later, the price of such technology would possibly allow the car to be sold for $13,100.

And finally, check out this break for consumers in Japan!

To help promote electric vehicles, the Japanese government has agreed to slash the car tax and sales tax by a whopping 90-percent, and will allow the car to park in public areas and travel on toll routes at a reduced rate.

It is my dream to work from home, or within a moderate walking distance. I now have another piece to this dream: an electric car to get me there and back! If not the Subaru, maybe another one.